Game 2012.159: Tigers at Twins

Fister, then Smyly, then Verlander: the Tiger starters are on a roll, and this afternoon Anibal Sanchez takes the mound, following up one of the best Tiger starts of the season, to face the 1-9 Australian Liam Hendricks , who is the only Liam in MLB history, so he’s got that going for him.

Not that there wasn’t any drama last night, thanks to Long-Ball Benoit and Ryan D—it (again!). Doumit now has all 8 of the Twins’ RBI for the series.

And once again, P.J. Walters baffled the Tiger hitters. Luckily the Twins had to resort to our old friend Casey Fien out of the bullpen, Cabrera re-tied for the HR lead, which has Mitch Albom all excited.

Speaking of excited, in the 5th inning yesterday, Quintin Berry stole second, an event that slipped under the radar. Berry now has 21 stolen bases for the season, and has yet to be caught. If he can manage the last 4 games without being caught, Mr. Berry has an American League record.

Max Scherzer is stiff iffy, but let’s wait a day or two before we start fretting about that.

Stat of the Day: Al Alburquerque has picked up on his improbably good season last year, throwing 12.1 scoreless innings, with a WHIP of 0.892. Al now has a 84 strikeouts for his career in only 55.2 innings (1.52 per inning).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Miguel Cabrera. The Twins’ Hendricks has given up 1.95 HRs per 9 innings, the 4th worst in baseball. You see where I’m going with this.

44 Comments

StorminNorman

September 30, 2012 at 1:18 pm

Going to KC for 3 final games should be a concern…KC seems to be a much better team at home – (i.e., Team BA home – .278 vs .253 away). A win tonight for DET is highly adviseable… as going into KC w/a 2 or 3 game lead is MUCH better than a 1-game lead.

Congrats to Berry for his 21 for 21 SB’s – impressive, and at least one of those SB was on a pitchout (vs. LAA). QB adds a dynamic DET has not had in a long time, and i’m happy to see JL has given him some PT lately. Whether QB is in the lineup or not, he also seems to be one of the team’s biggest cheerleaders.

StorminNorman

September 30, 2012 at 2:16 pm

Jason Beck reports: “Good throwing session today, according to Scherzer. More optimistic about Wednesday, confident he can be at full strength for playoffs. If AL Central is decided by Wednesday, Smyly starts.”

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

September 30, 2012 at 2:19 pm

Tampa Bay jumps out to a 2-0 lead!

Kevin in Dallas

September 30, 2012 at 3:12 pm

This is believable.

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

September 30, 2012 at 3:24 pm

Tigers need to take a strong lead to help out when Sanchez turns this game over to the bullpen.

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

September 30, 2012 at 3:51 pm

MVP Cabrera with a field save!

jud

September 30, 2012 at 4:16 pm

Unfortunately the road game offense showed up today

StorminNorman

September 30, 2012 at 4:18 pm

Sanchez pitched a helluva game… if/when DET makes the playoffs, Porcello will (should) be the odd man out – relagated to the BP

DET offense making a pretty bad pitcher (Hendricks) look very good today

StorminNorman

September 30, 2012 at 4:19 pm

Price/TAM doing their part… 5-2 thru 6…Price @ 92 pitches

Kevin in Dallas

September 30, 2012 at 4:25 pm

Here comes a rally.

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

September 30, 2012 at 4:26 pm

Berry hitting and not SB’ing to keep the bat in Cabrera’s hand?

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

September 30, 2012 at 4:30 pm

The PRINCE OF MOTOWN gets #30!

StorminNorman

September 30, 2012 at 4:30 pm

great timing for #30!!!!

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

September 30, 2012 at 4:32 pm

Angels come back to beat the Rangers. Next the Rangers have their final 3 in Oakland. How cool will it be to relegate the Rangers to the Wildcard?

StorminNorman

September 30, 2012 at 4:33 pm

…and the Yankees

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

September 30, 2012 at 4:36 pm

As of last Thursday, our friends on MLB XM radio have been already talking about a Yankee v. Tiger ALDS.

Florian

September 30, 2012 at 5:21 pm

Call me mean spirited, but in my view sweetest outcome would be: Orioles take AL East, Yankees get to play WC decision against Oakland and lose. Then we would have both the most amazing AL clubs this season in the playoffs.

Florian

September 30, 2012 at 5:25 pm

… or OAK takes the division title and Texas finishes the Yankees in the WC playoff.

Probably gonna have to rely on a 2B by Dirks and a blooper by a BOOB instead.

Kevin in Dallas

September 30, 2012 at 4:44 pm

So much for that. If he’s gonna PH for a lefty – Avila would have made more sense.

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

September 30, 2012 at 4:46 pm

Just like yesterday….it’s Papa Grande time with the top of the lineup!

StorminNorman

September 30, 2012 at 4:47 pm

top of MIN order coming up…going to be tense.

if Mauer gets a hit, he will lead Cabrera for the batting crown

stephen

September 30, 2012 at 4:53 pm

If every ball is hit to Jackson in the playoffs we have a chance.

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

September 30, 2012 at 4:55 pm

Valverde….please buy AJax a large Kansas City t-bone!!!!!

Kevin in Dallas

September 30, 2012 at 4:57 pm

TB up 5-2, 1 down in the bottom of the 8th.

jud

September 30, 2012 at 5:02 pm

Doesn’t get any bigger then that one….great job guys!

stephen

September 30, 2012 at 5:06 pm

Congrats to Detroit Tigers on having 7th best record in American League and getting to open with Verlander at home in playoffs! Selig rules.

Florian

September 30, 2012 at 5:18 pm

What has Selig got to do with that?

stephen

September 30, 2012 at 6:32 pm

Selig signed off on profoundly unfair decision to let this year go to a 2-3 divisional series because they wanted to shoehorn 2nd WC this year and cut travel. Next year they go to 2-2-1 again. Having first games at home in a short series is giant advantage. In 87, the Tigers got jobbed out of home field–they alternated back then–and Twins got first two games at home. Series was basically over after first two games. No time in MLB history has the lower seeded opened at home in playoffs. This year it happens.

Florian

September 30, 2012 at 11:49 pm

Ah, cool, yes – didn’t think about that!

travisfrymanfan

September 30, 2012 at 5:30 pm

Tigers: 21-18 vs East Division.

stephen

September 30, 2012 at 5:30 pm

Ed Farmer: That’s strike three and the Ray’s came in here and…Uh I don’t know what Rodney is doing.[audible sigh] We’ll be back with keys to the game…

Kevin in Dallas

September 30, 2012 at 5:51 pm

I think Price may have sealed the Cy Young today. From a WAR perspective, JV gets it. But looking at the numbers, Price should win. Gonna be tight though, as I think Weaver, JV and Price will all get votes.

Kevin in Dallas

September 30, 2012 at 6:10 pm

Rodney too.

jud

September 30, 2012 at 9:56 pm

The Playoffs aren’t supposed to count towards the Cy Young, ala King Felix winning, but this year the pitching in the playoffs might win it for one of those mentioned.

Jim Eggers

September 30, 2012 at 10:33 pm

Don’t the bbwa knuckleheads vote for cy and all other awards on the last day of the regular season?

Florian

September 30, 2012 at 11:56 pm

That’s what I thought as well. By the time the play-offs start, voting is already over. Plus votes could already have been cast. Last year, JVs narrative of pure dominance and MVP caliber season was spun in mid august to mid september, along with an early post-season clinch by the Tigers. This year, that was precisely the stretch when he had a bit of a weak phase, while Weaver was cruising. Thus, Weaver might have it already sealed 2012. We’ll see after the playoffs.

Coleman

October 1, 2012 at 12:23 pm

The fact that Detroit finally won a 1-run game is a good sign going into the playoffs. The fact that the offense came up blank against a 1-8 pitcher (again), not so much.

Jim Eggers

October 1, 2012 at 1:06 pm

Had a thought last night; I see all the comments re JL, Gene, and Mac on this blog, and have some agreement with them, but if there is a CWS blog, should they be screaming for Ventura Highway’s head on a platter? I realize we are benefiting from their demise, and can’t wait to paraphrase the Hawk,”this SEASON is ovah!”, but for no particular reason the Pale Hose are really in a death spin….

StorminNorman$

October 1, 2012 at 2:04 pm

since 8/27, CWS has gone 12-21, and a lot of those losses have had to have been brutal for CWS fans to watch.

Compared to the Red Sox and Braves collapses last year, CWS has been pretty mild. In my opinion the difference between Ventura’s team and JL’s team is the quality and depth of each team. Though there have been stretches where DET has looked pretty bad this year, i believe DET is clearly the superior team. With that said, i think Ventura and CWS have over-achieved this year (except for the past month), whereas i believe DET has underachieved. Yes DET appears to be playoff bound, and that’s great!… but had CWS not struggled over the past month, DET would be on the outside looking in. How much of that rests with JL and coaching staff is up for debate. If healthy, DET is as good as any team in the playoffs, how they perform from here on out, will dictate how JL is percieved collectively for the ’12 season.

Coleman

October 1, 2012 at 2:36 pm

Every team’s fans love to hate their own manager…was just listening to some Reds fans going on about how awful Dusty Baker is, and they are in the running for best record in MLB. But I can produce video highlights of how awful Gene Lamont is at 3rd, and defy any other team’s fans to match him. If Leyland stays, couldn’t we promote him to bench coach or something?

Vince in MN

October 1, 2012 at 6:04 pm

Leyland lives in Pittsburgh doesn’t he? Maybe the up and coming Pirates….. And McClendon used to play for the Pirates, so that could be a double coup for them. Lamont was highly regarded by some of the brass in BOS last winter, so if Valentine gets the axe, maybe there is a future in Beantown for Gene.

Vince in MN

October 1, 2012 at 6:08 pm

The best possible scenario from my perspective would be if the whole gang stayed in the division and just moved over to CLE. Our sighs and groans would turn to laughs and cheers as we would get to play against them 19 times next year.

Latest Comments

Coleman http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12413132&categoryid=2521705
On the other hand, Verlander is "confident" and "ready to go," so there's that.

Smoking Loon Good article, Kevin.
Did anyone else have the thought last year that perhaps the biggest problem with Verlander was... predictability? He

Kevin in Dallas Neither does this story.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2015/02/detroit_tigers_bring_back_righ_1.html

Kevin in Dallas This picture does not instill a whole bunch of confidence.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/#/0

Coleman Check out this one: http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2015/02/report_relief_pitcher_joba_cha.html#incart_more_sports
He shaved the beard! And looks like he dropped a few pounds too.

StorminNorman$ http://m.tigers.mlb.com/news/article/110232762/joba-chamberlain-signs-with-detroit-tigers
low price, potential high yield... or maybe not. Whatever the case, Joba certainly said all the right things.

Jim EggersUSMC I concur K in D, am hoping for a good but not great season from JV. Seemed to me he

StorminNorman$ Great info/research Kevin! One point to clarify and factor into the analysis: JV did make $20M last year, but

Coleman Verlander had core muscle surgery last January. Could it be, at his age, and with the type of pitcher he

Jim EggersUSMC I am sorry to hear that, was looking forward to your blunt and accurate reports... as far as next year